Information and Procedures

The mission of the Corporation for Ohio Appalachian Development (COAD) David V. Stivison Appalachian Community Action Scholarship Fund is to provide financial assistance to students who:

Are residents of COAD's service area

Want to attend institutions of higher education

Lack the required resources to do so

Purposes:

* To enable students to attend an accredited institution of higher education by awarding scholarship assistance.* To increase participation rates of COAD service area students who attend institutions of higher education.* To provide, when possible and desired, summer employment opportunities to selected scholarship recipients in cooperation with COAD-member Community Action Agencies.

Eligibility Criteria:

To be eligible, an applicant must meet all of the following criteria:

1. Be a resident of the 30-county COAD service area for at least one year before the application deadline.2. Reside in a household with a total annual income at or below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines.3. Have obtained or will obtain a high school degree or GED.4. Show proof of acceptance by an accredited 2-year or 4-­year institution of higher education.

Application Procedures:

Eligible applicants will be required to submit a completed application form provided by COAD according to the instructions given. Applications will be solicited from area high schools and vocational schools in the 30-county service area. Non-traditional students may apply directly to local Community Action Agencies.

Applications must be submitted to the appropriate COAD-member Community Action Agency that serves the county where the applicant resides. A directory of participating Community Action Agencies and the thirty counties they serve can be found here .

The completed application must be submitted (postmarked) to the appropriateCommunity Action Agency by April 1 to be considered for funding for the academicyear beginning in the Fall term of that year.

Each COAD-member Community Action Agency will determine whether eligibility criteria have been met, screen applicants and recommend applicants for consideration by COAD's Scholarship Selection Committee. The Scholarship Selection Committee will review the applications submitted from member Community Action Agencies and select the scholarship recipients based on need, character, inclination, grades, and other factors it deems appropriate, except that it will not consider race, creed, color, age, sex, political affiliation, national origin, familial status or disability in such selections.

Preference will be given to first year students who plan to attend either a 2­-year or 4-year institution of higher education within the 30-county COAD service area, unless the field of study chosen by the applicant is not offered by any of these institutions. The awards will be final and will be announced by May 1. Applicants selected will be invited to attend COAD's annual banquet in August to be formally introduced and recognized. Any costs associated with attending this banquet will be paid by COAD. Attendance at the banquet is not required.

Summer Employment:

Depending on the availability of funding and the interests of the selected applicants, participating Community Action Agencies will offer the opportunity of summer employment to scholarship recipients. The terms of employment and the work assignments will be based on the student's career interests and the employment needs of the local agency. Any income earned by a student through this summer employment opportunity will be in addition to the scholarship awarded.

Further Information:

For additional information about the Corporation for Ohio Appalachian Development David V. Stivison Appalachian Community Action Scholarship Fund, please contact:

or, contact the Executive Director of the local COAD-member Community Action Agency listed in the directory.

This scholarship program is sponsored in collaboration with the Ohio Appalachian Center for Higher Education (OACHE), a consortium of ten institutions of higher education located within the Appalachian Ohio region. For information about OACHE or the scholarship program, contact Shawnee State University, 940 Second Street, Portsmouth, Ohio 45662-4344 or call (740) 355-2299.

Background Information:

The Corporation for Ohio Appalachian Development is a private, non-profit community-based 501(c)(3) organization that serves thirty rural, mostly Appalachian counties in eastern, southeastern and southern Ohio. It is a membership organization comprised of seventeen Community Action Agencies. COAD’s mission is to promote unified action and representation for its member agencies and the constituencies they serve, mainly low-income families and the elderly, by providing a collective voice for small, rural counties and agencies that otherwise would have difficulty attracting the attention or resources to meet their needs. COAD is an economic and human development entity, which operates programming primarily oriented toward the overall development and upward mobility of the Appalachian area of Ohio and its residents. COAD is an equal opportunity employer/provider of services.

David V. Stivison (1946 - 1997) was a former COAD employee, a native of Hocking County, Ohio, and a graduate of Ohio University and Harvard Law School. This Appalachian Scholarship Fund is named in his memory as a tribute to his pursuit of academic excellence and his commitment to help others achieve to their fullest potential.